If you could have only 5 guns...

[prison/con.net]

they won't last long if they need lots of ammo. Go at it right and there will be lots of guns and ammo to pick up, so you don't need to start with a lot of it. with 50 million dogs and cats hunting, you'll be robbed of your catch a lot and those critters will attract human attention. Then you'll need the fighting rifle, or you won't make it. I'll take gill nets, fish traps and trotlines over yo-yo's any day, too. Such stuff can be cached at your BOL, so their weight and bulk is irrelevant.

 

[there4eyeM]

A 30.06 (Ruger American Rifle?), good quality 12 g pump, .357 4" (Ruger Service Six?), .25 semi-auto (boot pistol), 9mm semi-auto (just because the ammo is so available, not because it is so great).

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

they won't last long if they need lots of ammo. Go at it right and there will be lots of guns and ammo to pick up, so you don't need to start with a lot of it. with 50 million dogs and cats hunting, you'll be robbed of your catch a lot and those critters will attract human attention. Then you'll need the fighting rifle, or you won't make it. I'll take gill nets, fish traps and trotlines over yo-yo's any day, too. Such stuff can be cached at your BOL, so their weight and bulk is irrelevant.

Stealing ammo from the dead goes without saying.
And those dogs and cats eat just fine smoked over an oak fire.
Really you'd need to figure out where you were going and how to get there with the most gear possible.
Obviously if your walking it's going to be a problem because you really wouldnt want to walk the roads or drive em for that matter,they'll be obvious ambush points.
If you knew the shit was coming and you had a prepared remote location your best bet would be to hole up until the die off.

As far as gill nets go,i'd rather just make a stick trap across a small river or creek like the injuns used to do. All you need is a hatchet which you'll probably have anyway. Things like yo yos and rat traps can be set and forgotten while you tend to other needs as well.

 

[WinterBorn]

when you choose the right 2 guns, really, with .22lr conversion units, you CAN cover all the (needed) bases. Bird dont have to be shot out of the air, matches don't have to be competed in. Sport hunting has nothing to do with survival poaching. It's really depressing to see how many people don't understand that. Noisy guns are not to be used if it's shtf, cause they will call in your killers and scare off the game. Shotguns can't be effectively suppressed. Non rapidfire guns are not to be risked. If you need to forage, so will others, and some of them will shoot you on sight.

Your assumption is that these 5 guns are for a post-apocalyptic setting. Actually, I was discussing what would you choose if you could only have 5 guns now. To include guns for a SHTF situation is part of that, but not the entirety of the topic.

 

[there4eyeM]

Ah, yeah, not post-apocalyptic. Whew!
I stay with the 30.06 and the pump and the .357. Throw in a good .22 rifle (good for small game (used to hunt squirrels with one) and ammo is cheap and plentiful. Might as well dump the .25 for a .22 pistol, too. Let's see, that's four. Do I need another?
Well, a .50 caliber sniper rifle, just in case it is post-apocalyptic!
Ha!

 

[WinterBorn]

Ah, yeah, not post-apocalyptic. Whew!
I stay with the 30.06 and the pump and the .357. Throw in a good .22 rifle (good for small game (used to hunt squirrels with one) and ammo is cheap and plentiful. Might as well dump the .25 for a .22 pistol, too. Let's see, that's four. Do I need another?
Well, a .50 caliber sniper rifle, just in case it is post-apocalyptic!
Ha!

I am not saying don't allow for a SHTF situation. Just that this was not the point of the discussion.

I like that you ditched the .25 auto. Those rounds are so anemic and under powered. You can get a derringer in a better caliber to do the trick.

And if you select the Ruger American in .308 instead of 30-06, you could get a semi-auto in the same caliber as a battle rifle.

Go with what you like, but I like to suggest things.

 

[there4eyeM]

Yeah, I did consider that, but I've always thought that if I were really in a conflict situation I wouldn't do so well too up-close. From where I would be sitting, steady and accurate would count more than fire-suppression.
And before they got even that close (like, starting at a kilometer), the .50 would get them thinking about whether getting any closer was really worth it.

 

[WinterBorn]

Yeah, I did consider that, but I've always thought that if I were really in a conflict situation I wouldn't do so well too up-close. From where I would be sitting, steady and accurate would count more than fire-suppression.
And before they got even that close (like, starting at a kilometer), the .50 would get them thinking about whether getting any closer was really worth it.

A .50 cal is a good way to reach out and touch someone from an extreme distance. But the ammo and gun are super heavy, unwieldy and not good for much else. If you want your 5 guns to include that, go for it.

 

[prison/con.net]

If you have a remingtonm 308 or 06 auto rifle, you dont need the bolt action nor the 308 auto. Nobody needs a shotgun, you just want one. No more than it can do for you, you lose more than you gain. Small game and birds rarely gain you back the calories that you spend on hunting them. YOu have to have abou 6=8 lbs of fish /game per day, every day, live weight, if that's all the food you have. So any given area is hunted out of small game and birds in just a month or so, just feeding one man. If you want the area to sustain you, you have to have fish, plant food and SOME big game. If you have an optical sight or rifle sights on your shotgun, and if the area is thickly wooded, and if you jacklight and use bait, a shotgun can harvest quite a few deer per year, but the 308 auto can do it a lot better and a silenced, optical sighted 22 auto pistol can take the small game at least as well as the shotgun, cause it doesn't scare off everything with noise That more than makes up for not being able to take birds on the wing. The rifle is also a lot better for fighting.

 

[there4eyeM]

(to WB, above)

You are absolutely right. I'm being a bit cavalier, but the rest of what I said is more serious.
I'm not carrying around any 'depleted uranium', either! Dial back to a nine millimeter for the cheap ammo again.
Still, when you absolutely, positively must punch through a cinder block wall to stop your foe, accept no substitutes (to paraphrase Samuel Jackson in 'Jackie Brown').

 

[there4eyeM]

The shotgun is in case they do get close.

 

[WinterBorn]

If you have a remingtonm 308 or 06 auto rifle, you dont need the bolt action nor the 308 auto. Nobody needs a shotgun, you just want one. No more than it can do for you, you lose more than you gain. Small game and birds rarely gain you back the calories that you spend on hunting them. YOu have to have abou 6=8 lbs of fish /game per day, every day, live weight, if that's all the food you have. So any given area is hunted out of small game and birds in just a month or so, just feeding one man. If you want the area to sustain you, you have to have fish, plant food and SOME big game. If you have an optical sight or rifle sights on your shotgun, and if the area is thickly wooded, and if you jacklight and use bait, a shotgun can harvest quite a few deer per year, but the 308 auto can do it a lot better and a silenced, optical sighted 22 auto pistol can take the small game at least as well as the shotgun, cause it doesn't scare off everything with noise That more than makes up for not being able to take birds on the wing. The rifle is also a lot better for fighting.

A shotgun makes an excellent fighting weapon, especially in close quarters.

 

[WinterBorn]

If you have a remingtonm 308 or 06 auto rifle, you dont need the bolt action nor the 308 auto. Nobody needs a shotgun, you just want one. No more than it can do for you, you lose more than you gain. Small game and birds rarely gain you back the calories that you spend on hunting them. YOu have to have abou 6=8 lbs of fish /game per day, every day, live weight, if that's all the food you have. So any given area is hunted out of small game and birds in just a month or so, just feeding one man. If you want the area to sustain you, you have to have fish, plant food and SOME big game. If you have an optical sight or rifle sights on your shotgun, and if the area is thickly wooded, and if you jacklight and use bait, a shotgun can harvest quite a few deer per year, but the 308 auto can do it a lot better and a silenced, optical sighted 22 auto pistol can take the small game at least as well as the shotgun, cause it doesn't scare off everything with noise That more than makes up for not being able to take birds on the wing. The rifle is also a lot better for fighting.

I use a shotgun for turkey hunting. Nothing better. As for bird hunting, I occasionally go for that and enjoy it. It is not the only food I have, so that isn't an issue. I eat what I hunt (except for coyote), but it is not y only source of food.

And if Fish & Game catches you hunting with a suppressed .22 pistol, you'll be doing time.

 

[WinterBorn]

If I didn't have my preferences down, I might consider the Ruger Scout rifle. Anyone shot one yet?